Stop Office BACKUP THIS DOCUMENT prompt

Anonymous
2023-11-04T15:55:46+00:00

Excel and Word keep displaying a banner when I open a file "BACKUP THIS DOCUMENT - Access this file anywhere with OneDrive included in your subscription"

I have a backup system I use that I like and I don't need OneDrive to backup my files. How do I get OneDrive/Office 365/Windows to stop giving me this prompt?

I click the "X" or Schedule Backup Later to make the banner go away, but it just comes back a little while later. I've opened up the OneDrive app from the system tray and unselected everything from the OneDrive backup, but none of this helps and the prompt keeps coming back.

How do I get this to stop?

Microsoft 365 and Office | Excel | For home | Windows

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  1. Anonymous
    2024-01-24T23:50:18+00:00

    Generally, Microsoft is capable of implementing needed changes in their products. The fact that the backup prompts continue indicates that they don't really care if they annoy the user and they have no intent to correct the problem. Eventually, they will probably make it impossible to use local storage for your work.

    I am reminded of the 1960's when one company, IBM, dominated the computer industry. They used semi-corrupt sales practices on the corporate managers, like sending gorgeous young women, etc. Remember: in computing, the practitioners never choose the tools; that is done by the managers. IBM was high minded and arrogant. And then look what happened to them.

    Other operating systems and office products are now lurking, waiting for Microsoft to make a fatal fumble... Computing knowledge is too widely dispersed for Microsoft to enjoy a monopoly.

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  2. Anonymous
    2024-01-24T20:42:43+00:00

    SOLVED!!! Open OneDrive, then "Settings" (cog wheel) You will land on "Sync and backup" go to the bottom and click "Advanced settings" scroll lower and click "Exclude" under "Excluded file extensions". Type in "docx" next to "Extension", press "Exclude", Do the same for "xlsx" if you want. The neverending prompt will leave you alone!

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  3. Anonymous
    2024-01-20T13:37:05+00:00

    Why not just uninstall OneDrive from your PC? That seems to stop the annoying prompt.

    And if you're worried about Microsoft snooping on your data, then you presumably aren't using OneDrive anyway!

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  4. Anonymous
    2024-01-15T18:21:48+00:00

    This has been driving me nuts too. So I uninstalled OneDrive. (And deleted the registry key mentioned in earlier replies).

    Seems to have sorted it for now ... only time will tell.

    I've got Dropbox and IDrive (and I could use Google Drive too if I really needed more cloud storage) so I think I can probably do without OneDrive. And if Microsoft's aim with this infuriating message was to get more customers for OneDrive ... well, they blew it!

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  5. Anonymous
    2024-01-05T17:18:33+00:00

    It's Baaaack!

    I've been running the registry patch every day to reset the nag date.

    But now, the nag is back in Word (and, I assume, every other Office app).

    There must be some new code that uses a different reminder switch.

    Any ideas?

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